On Wednesday, members of the House Judiciary Committee grilled Robert Mueller over his findings into Russian interference in the 2016 elections and Donald Trump’s alleged obstruction of justice after the fact.
Multiple members of Congress from Texas were part of the tense early morning hearing that sought to pry out either exonerating or condemning statements from Mueller over his findings of Trump.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston focused her questioning on the ten separate examples of Trump’s possible obstruction of justice that were investigated by Mueller. She asked if those examples of possible obstruction were enough to ascertain any corrupt intent from Trump’s actions in curtailing the Muller probe.
“Does that mean you have to investigate all of his conduct to ascertain
Jackson then asked Mueller if being convicted of obstruction of justice merits “a lot of time in jail,” to which Mueller replied, “Yes.”
Also asking questions at the hearing was right-winger Rep. Louie Gohmert of East Texas, who recently described Muller as an “anal opening.”
Gohmert spent much of his time trying to smear Mueller’s integrity by bringing up his friendship with former FBI director James Comey, as well as mentioning his hiring of Peter Strzok, an FBI agent who was reassigned from the Mueller investigation after texts of his were revealed that spoke negatively of Trump.
“You hired a bunch of people that did not like the president,” Gohmert told Mueller.
As Gohmert’s time ran out, he accused the Mueller, not the president, of obstruction of justice.
“What he’s doing is not obstructing justice; he is pursuing justice and the fact you ran it out two years means you perpetuated injustice!” Gohmert yelled at Mueller.
Mueller’s testimony and questioning represent one of the few times the special prosecutor has spoken publicly concerning his investigation. In May, pressured by Democrats to speak publicly in Congress about the matter, he said: “The report is my testimony.”
During
A separate hearing with Mueller and the House Intelligence Committee is scheduled for this afternoon.
Fernando covers Texas politics and government at the Texas Signal. Before joining the Signal, Fernando spent two years at the Houston Chronicle and previously interned at Houston’s NPR station News 88.7. He is a graduate of the University of Houston, Jack J. Valenti School of Communication, and enjoys reading, highlighting things, and arguing on social media. You can follow him on Twitter at @fernramirez93 or email at fernando@texassignalarchive.com
